HS2 Community and Business Funds

Worth £40 million, the two funds are available to communities and local economies that are impacted by the construction of Phase One of HS2.

Community and Environment Fund (CEF)

The objective is to add benefit, over and above committed mitigation and statutory compensation, to communities along the route that are demonstrably disrupted by the construction of Phase One of HS2 – which runs from London to the West Midlands.

There will be two types of CEF grant: CEF Local will focus on quality of life and environment in individual communities and CEF Strategic will focus on large projects across several communities and address strategic rather than purely local concerns.

Business and Local Economy Fund (BLEF)

The objective is to add benefit, over and above committed mitigation and statutory compensation, to support local economies that are demonstrably disrupted by the construction of Phase One of HS2 – which runs from London to Birmingham. The BLEF will focus on projects or programmes across several business sectors and address employment concerns in an area as opposed to individual businesses.

Groundwork UK are the independent Grant Management Body for both funds.